and we're not going to just keep raising the debt ceiling. we're going to make a down payment on debt reduction, and we're going to point the country in the right direction, we're going to cut spending. [applause] you know, there will be times p when conservatives disagree on the way forward. we've never marched in lockstep. that's not what we do. a healthy debate is a good and needed thing. we can deliberate in private without fighting in public. all we should ask of each other is that we give an honest account of our actions and their reasons for them. we should challenge the left, not each other. and if we take the prudent course, you know what? we'll be in really good company. our founders were men of prudence. take james madison. nowadays we call him the founder, the father of the constitution. but at the constitutional convention, he lost some key arguments. you know, he fought the plan to give each state the same number of seats in the senate. he thought it was deeply unjust. and at first he wants -- he wanted congress to be able to ve